Bracket buster?

[Shermthegeneral]

Does anyone know how this bracket buster thing works now? It seems like ESPN determines the matchup. Does anyone know how this works?

 

[orange79]

ESPN sets the matchups. This year's matchups were announced last September.

 

[Frozen]

I believe they are just games that are set up to give good mid major teams a nice win to have on their resume. For example, a win for St. Mary's over Murray St. (or vice versa) helps their case to be an at-large team, if they don't win their conference tournament. It is especially helpful for teams that cannot get elite teams to play them.

 

[Frozen]

ESPN sets the matchups. This year's matchups were announced last September.

I thought the matchups were announced a few weeks ago.

 

[Frozen]

Just checked: the pairings were announced on 1/30.

 

[Marsh01]

I thought the matchups were announced a few weeks ago.

They were. Not a coincidence or lucky a pairing that St. Marys and Murray State are playing each other.

 

[Hoov50]

Mid major teams can request to be picked for these games and then ESPN makes the matchups based on the teams who have shown interest.

 

[pfister1]

Its nice that they let the little kids swim in the big pool, but they should keep it on ESPN3 or ESPNU...give me BCS conference matchups.

 

[texascpa]

Apparently the home team must also return the trip to the away team within two years.

 

[PoppyHart]

The teams announce their intent to compete in September, b/c they have to clear their schedule for that weekend. Matchups are done 2-3 weeks in advance.

ESPN sets the matchups. This year's matchups were announced last September.

 

[Madbiker]

ESPN makes the pairings and decides which teams get home games. Can you imagine if ESPN created the brackets for the NCAAT...that would be wild...of course the FF would be Duke, UNC, UK, and Kansas every year.

 

[orange79]

My bad - I saw this headline and the date, and just assumed. Mea culpa. Who knew a headline on the interwebs could be so misleading?

 

[Cuse_1999]

ESPN makes the pairings and decides which teams get home games. Can you imagine if ESPN created the brackets for the NCAAT...that would be wild...of course the FF would be Duke, UNC, UK, and Kansas every year.

Don't sell the NCAA/CBS short. I don't think it's a coincidence that the NCAAT has sub-regional sites in either Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or Charlotte 75% of the time and UNC/Duke always get placed there. Basically ensuring that 2 of their biggest ratings draws will make it to the Sweet 16.

Now granted, the attendance for those sites is probably strong which plays into too, but I bet their are plenty of other sites that would have strong attendance as well